As we mark the 2018 international day International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation we need to accelerate efforts of raising awareness and encourage concrete actions to stop the harmful practice.

Mũkoma wa Ngũgi explores a redefinition of what ‘icon’ means in the African context, the unearthing of names that are all too often forgotten, the invisibility of female icons in our historical narratives, and the nature and role of the diaspora in our cultural, political and economic production

A sellout is someone who betrays his own principles and his followers for personal venality. Where is the evidence that South Africa's Mandela betrayed himself and deceived his countrymen for self-gain?

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We all enjoy sex but we don’t really talk about it – one reason that the topic of sextech is so emotionally charged. Artificial intelligence has boldly entered the global (and, more recently, the African) sex market, bringing with it a revolution in robotic sextech designed to provide sexual gratification that is eerily almost human.

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A sellout is someone who betrays his own principles and his followers for personal venality. Where is the evidence that South Africa's Mandela betrayed himself and deceived his countrymen for self-gain?

The definition of democracy on the continent has been restricted to holding elections. Many African leaders forget that protests and online dissent is very much part of democracy. Elections are just a part of democracy, and democracy entails a full spectrum of economic, social and political freedoms, which include citizens' rights to protest and express their voices and concern.

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Mũkoma wa Ngũgi explores a redefinition of what ‘icon’ means in the African context, the unearthing of names that are all too often forgotten, the invisibility of female icons in our historical narratives, and the nature and role of the diaspora in our cultural, political and economic production

UN Resident Coordinator Siddharth Chatterjee has one of those CVs that will blow you away. Sneak a peek at his Twitter bio and you will see what we are talking about. Ex Indian Special Forces. Ex Red Cross. Princeton alumnus. And a presiding don of the opinion pages at Huffington Post and Reuters. We’re sure you see what we are talking about. He’s a man worth paying attention to. We’re glad he recently spared a few minutes to sit down for an interview with Dr Diana Wangari who brings us the scoop.

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The African continent is going through a political renaissance unlike any we have seen in some time. Zimbabwe recently had a coup, which was not really a coup. Kenya has two emergent leaders claiming power, South Africa's Jacob Zuma has fallen and now Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has resigned.

Zimbabwe has lost a hero with the passing of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai (65), a colossal, brave and charismatic leader who tirelessly fought for democracy. Save, as Tsvangirai was affectionately known was undoubtedly the most effective opposition leader in Zimbabwe since independence. Tsvangirai dedicated his life to fighting autocracy. We share with you 10 of his profound quotes.

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South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) has welcomed President Jacob Zuma's resignation as President of the country. The ANC saluted President Zuma’s “outstanding contribution” in the last nine years he served as President and his role in the party spanning over sixty years. Here is the full statement of the ANC following President Zuma’s resignation.

The National Portrait Gallery unveiled the official presidential likenesses of former US president Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama in a ceremony that was markedly different from those that went before

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma yesterday resigned as President of the country. "I have come to the decision to resign with immediate effect,” he said addressing the media following his recall by the African National Congress (ANC)’s NEC. Here is the full statement of President Zuma's letter of resignation.

By
Socrates Mbamalu on March 27, 2017 — Numerous indigenous languages in Nigeria are at risk of extinction. In a bid to preserve endangered languages in Nigeria, the Goethe-Institut Lagos has started a project called Vanishing Voices. The project aims to help preserve endangered languages, and the initiative should be replicated in different parts of Africa, where indigenous languages are at risk of dying out.

This Is Africa recently published an article titled How can African languages be protected? which explored the threats to the survival of African indigenous languages. In the article, an endangered language was defined as a language at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out, or shift to use other languages.

The Goethe-Institut Lagos, Nigeria made a call on Facebook in a post requesting anyone interested in saving Nigerian endangered languages to participate. The announcement read:

Open Call: VANISHING VOICES

Of the world’s 6,000 languages, 2,000 are spoken in Africa and 500 in Nigeria alone. The three major Lingua Franca – Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo – have several million speakers each, not to mention dozens of smaller languages that are in serious danger of disappearing One hundred and fifty-two languages have less than 5,000 speakers: the critical lowest threshold for a language to survive.

This call for proposals is open to Nigerians who can identify endangered indigenous Nigerian languages or even find a language that has only one speaker left. The peripheral languages in the country need to be protected and heard. The often forgotten, and now endangered languages are the voices the project is interested in identifying, and saving.

Goethe-Institut Lagos is making a call for artists, linguists and ethnologists to record an endangered Nigerian language. Photo: Facebook/Goethe-Insitut Lagos

Goethe-Institut Lagos further stated in its call:

Of the world’s 6,000 languages, 2,000 are spoken in Africa and 500 in Nigeria alone. As a result, the latter- as far as linguistic diversity is concerned- occupy the third place in the world, surpassed only by Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Europe by comparison, has only 120 languages.

The three major Lingua Franca- Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo have several million speakers each, not to mention dozens of smaller languages that are in serious danger of disappearing. One hundred and fifty-two languages have less than 5,000 speakers: the critical lowest threshold for a language to survive. Basa-Kontangora, Kiong, Kudu-Como, Lere and Njerep are spoken by less than 100 people in each case and will, as a consequence, disappear forever with this generation. According to UNESCO, even major languages such as Yoruba and Igbo face this danger in the long run, since not only lingua franca English, but also Pidgin English, are advancing inexorably and are no longer cultivated in many families.

Nigeria’s indigenous languages risk dying out. Photo: Global Giving

According to the release, the urban elites are increasingly becoming strangers in their own countries. In the private schools of Lagos and Ibadan, children can barely even greet one another in Yoruba. The globalization of the world economy- and of the neo-evangelical churches – are also playing an inglorious role as far as the loss of language diversity is concerned.

There is no doubt that language and identity are two sides of the same coin. This impoverishment goes hand in hand with social disintegration and a loss of identity, the release stated. Leading Nigerian intellectuals even speak of elf-enslavement. With every language that dies, it is not only a valuable linguistic heritage that vanishes, but a genuine view of the world and our environment.

“Taken together, all the passing human lives can never make up for the loss of a language since it requires a language to proclaim the death of a human being,” Prof. Ayo Oyebode, University of Ibadan noted.

The way forward according to the release:

Against the background of this impending loss, Nigeria is now involved in a broad public debate on the preservation of languages and cultural heritage. In order to prevent Nigeria’s unique polyphony from falling silent forever, some 15 artists, linguists and ethnologists will be invited to record an endangered language and present it in a vast, collective sound installation.

The call to save Nigerian endangered languages couldn’t have come at a better time. We hope this project extends to other African countries facing the same problem.